There is no way around it: the host has often thought about it for weeks and months: about the location, the motto, the atmosphere, the food, the drinks, hostess gifts and many other details. A thank you note is mandatory to make a good impression.

Every host is happy about a Thank you note – regardless of whether it was a lavish party with a hundred other guests, a joint visit to the theater or a dinner in a very small circle to which you were invited.

How to show style

Write by hand, of course, with a fountain pen. Choose a classy paper or a beautifully designed card and attach importance to a tasteful stamp. This is how you leave the best impression.

If there is no other way, a thank you note via email, SMS or WhatsApp is better than no thanks at all. No thanks in the follow-up to the invitation lacks any etiquette.

If possible, don’t start with “Thank you for …” but think of a more original way to begin, highlighting a detail of the evening that was important to the host(s) or that you think was particularly noteworthy.

A guest gift can also arrive with the thank you note first. Especially if your choice of gift shows that you have listened carefully to your hosts and are responding to a conversation at the event with your choice of gift.

Flowers arrive later much better

Send or present flowers as a follow-up to an invitation, your floral gift will receive special attention. For a party or dinner invitation, the hosts have already thought in advance about the perfect decoration of the rooms.

Add to this a number of other bouquets of flowers as well-intentioned but not really thoughtful hostess gifts, and the host’s previously thoughtfully designed room quickly turns into a kind of flower store where all the colors and shapes can be seen at a glance.

In addition, the bouquets of a celebration usually all wither at the same time. About a beautiful flower arrangement a week after the celebration, on the other hand, any host will be happy.

Since party-loving hosts may already have the next invitation coming up at this point, a small but nice flower arrangement is a good idea. In this case, that can also find its well-deserved place on a desk.

If you would rather bring something to the invitation, we recommend one of the art volumes by Japanese floral artist Makoto Azuma. His art, as seen here in a chateau on the Loire, is of course ephemeral, in print they will delight your hosts for many years.